Belichick 'not interested' in dealing Mallett

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Ryan Mallett has been the subject of trade rumors for almost as long as he’s been a Patriot. When the team selected quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in the second round of the recently completed draft, those rumors only intensified.

But the only person who matters in the discussion says he’s not interested.

Bill Belichick appeared on Sirius XM NFL Radio Thursday night and did his best to put an end to the Mallett trade talks.

“That’s not really something we’re that interested in,” Belichick said. “Ryan has done a good job for us. Fortunately for our team, maybe unfortunately for Ryan, he hasn’t really had any playing time in the last three years. But he’s improved tremendously as a quarterback and as a football player, and we have a lot of confidence in him. But at the same time, he’s in the last year of a contract, and Jimmy was again a player we had with a high grade on. At that position, I just don’t think you can afford to pass up a player that you think has that kind of value.

“We feel like we have a good quarterback situation. I think there are a lot of teams in the league that maybe don’t feel that good about that position, and that’s not a good position to not feel good about. We feel very good about the players we have at that spot.”

Speaking with hosts Jim Miller, himself a former Patriots backup quarterback, as well as Pat Kirwan on the “Movin' the Chains” program, Belichick explained his thought process at the position.

“We’ve certainly seen teams not take that approach, and I’d say in some cases the results have been pretty disastrous,” Belichick said. “I don’t think that’s a position that you can ever have too much depth at. Certainly too much is better than not enough. Again, we’ll put those players out there and let them compete and see how it goes. But I think all three of them are quality players at that position.”